Bill: Ok, we both have the book, and we're ready to get started! Here is a brief video of me smelling my copy:

Allana: The book itself has six sections - five "iterations" and a "modus" at the end. Thus, I'm thinking a larger section summary every five days, along with the weekly chats and all the posts in between. We should probably plan a big blowout at the end, huh.

Bill: How about we do the section summaries on Mondays and Fridays, so the schedule is something like:

Weekly chat posts (like this one, but more interesting!) on Wednesdays:Chat 1:4/7/2010Chat 2:4/14/2010Chat 3:4/21/2010Chat 4:4/28/2010 (this one takes place after we've finished the book)

Anyone who might be reading along with us, that might serve as a framework for our team pacing through the book.

Any other posts fall around those whenever we have something.

Allana: I'm glad I went through with those Known Issues things, unpleasant an exercise as they may have been. I've got the sort of feeling that comes after a long phone conversation with my well-intentioned-but-pushy Catholic aunt, when she thinks she's consoling me. First comes the list of the great dangers and worries the world has in store for me, all the things I shouldn't do, won't like, have to keep on guard for. Then there's the unavoidable conclusion - "But if you ask the Lord to guide you, there won't be any problems at all. He's just waiting to be asked."Finally, I'm ready to do all the things I've been warned against.

Bill: For my part, I'm just excited to be reading a science fiction novel of substance alongside someone else. I'm not one generally for book clubs (though I did run a physics based one for a time) as they tend to gravitate toward books I'm just not interested in. But reading in a conversational vacuum can get old. The Whitechapel book threads are cool up to a point, but people rarely engage around a particular book for more than a post or two. I haven't done much real concentrated reading with peers since graduating college, and it was something I really enjoyed.

I just finished translating TDE into Portuguese, started the coppy editing this month and met (and had a more than nice chat with) Bruce Sterling a week ago at a signing session. So I'm exulting over finding this blog.

We're glad to have you here too, Ludimila! There are more posts coming, we haven't finished analyzing yet, so please feel free to jump in the comments on any post if you have anything you want to talk about.